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John Vandermeer

Fellow | Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

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John Vandermeer is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, where he teaches courses in “Food, Energy and the Environment,” and “the Ecology of Agricultural Systems.” He has done active technical research in rainforest ecology, theoretical ecology and agroecology, most recently focusing on the coffee agroecosystem in southern Mexico. He is a long time political activist, having been a major organizer of Science for the People in the 1970s and, most recently, the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group, which is still a functioning organization. He was one of the founding members of the University of Michigan’s “Sustainable Food Systems Iniatiative.” John Vandermeer is the author of various books including Breakfast of Biodiversity, Tropical Agroecosystems, Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty (with Ivette Perfecto), The Ecology of Agroecosystems, and Coffee Agroecology (with Ivette Perfecto).